MANKATO, Minn. – The Minnesota State University Moorhead women's basketball team fell to Minnesota State-Mankato, 84-70 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action Friday night in Mankato, Minn.
 
MSUM fell to 6-9 overall and 5-6 in the NSIC with the loss while Minnesota State improved to 14-4 overall and 10-4 in the league.
 
Sophomore guard Mariah McKeever led MSUM with 16 points while senior guard Aliyah Miller had a season-high 12 points. Junior guard Natalie Steichen had 11 points.
 
Steichen and Miller shared the team lead with six rebounds while freshman guard Natalie Jens had six assists to go with eight points. Steichen also led with three steals while freshman forward Alissa Knight had two blocks.
 
MSUM shot 51.9 percent (27-of-52) but committed a season-high 28 turnovers. The Dragons had a 34-30 edge in rebounds.
 
The Dragons fell behind 11-0 and trailed the rest of the way.  MSUM was down 25-11 after one quarter.
 
MSUM fought back in the second quarter and a McKeever three brought the Dragons within 33-27 with 5:26 left in the first half. But the Mavericks closed the half on an 19-4 run to take a 52-31 lead into halftime.
 
The Dragons didn't get closer than 14 the rest of the way.
 
Knight finished with six points off the bench for MSUM, which plays at Concordia-St. Paul on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.